9 killed, 25 wounded in Chicago weekend shootings

CHICAGO - Nine people were killed and 25 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago this weekend.

The weekend’s first reported shooting left a 9-year-old boy dead on the Near North Side.

Janari Ricks was playing outside about 6 p.m. Friday when someone walked up and fired shots toward a group of people nearby in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue, authorities said. He was struck in the chest by a stray bullet and taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later.

Chicago Police Department Chief of Operations Brian McDermott said Ricks “was an unintended target, and we don’t know who the intended target was.”

The weekend closed out a July that saw a 139% jump in citywide murders compared to the same month last year, according to police statistics. Last weekend, 59 people were shot throughout the city, three of them fatally.

This weekend’s most recent fatal shooting was a drive-by Sunday afternoon in Englewood on the South Side.

About 12:40 p.m., a 38-year-old man was standing in the 6400 block of South Green Street when a light-colored vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, Chicago police said. The man was struck in the head and back and pronounced dead at the scene.

Two 28-year-old men were found dead after a shooting Sunday morning in Lawndale on the West Side.

Officers responding to ShotSpotter alerts about 6 a.m. found them unresponsive with gunshot wounds in the 2300 block of South Kolin Avenue, according to police. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

Five more fatal attacks happened in less than six hours Saturday morning.

The latest of those shootings left a 23-year-old man dead in South Shore.

Demarcus Wiggins, 23, was found with gunshot wounds to his chest and leg about 5:50 a.m. in the 7700 block of South Phillips Avenue, authorities said. He was rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died.

Less than half an hour earlier, another man was found shot in the neck in Chicago Lawn on the South Side.

Juan Cervantes Sierra, 44, was found unresponsive about 5:25 a.m. in the 6100 block of South Troy Street, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A woman was found shot to death hours earlier in West Garfield Park.

She was found on a back porch about 2:42 a.m. in the 4500 block of West West End Avenue with gunshot wounds to her back, police said. The woman was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Five people were shot, one of them fatally, at a party Saturday in Austin.

They were at a backyard party at 12:37 a.m. in the 100 block of North Laporte Avenue when someone started shooting into the yard, according to Chicago police.

Nautica Thompson, 23, was shot multiple times and taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he died, authorities said.

A 32-year-old man was shot in the left thigh and taken to West Suburban in good condition, police said. Another man, 18, was hit in the left forearm and abdomen and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

An 18-year-old woman was shot three times in the buttocks while another woman, 28, was hit in the left leg, police said. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

Two men seen fleeing the scene were taken in for questioning, police said. One man, 25-year-old Latraye Williams, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault to a peace officer for allegedly pointing a gun at officers as he ran. Charges are pending against the other man.

Minutes before, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot in Washington Park on the South Side.

Aaron Brown was in a home about 12:30 a.m. in the 200 block of East 55th Place when he was shot in the head and chest, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In nonfatal shootings, a teenage boy was among two people shot Friday night in Grand Crossing on the South Side.

The boy, 17, and a 19-year-old man were westbound in a vehicle about 8:54 p.m. in the 7100 block of South Dorchester Avenue when someone fired shots at them from another vehicle, police said. They were each struck in the hand and drove to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where they were listed in good condition.

At least 19 other people were injured by gunfire across the city between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.